


three, two, one, zero

by newboldtrue



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: Assassin AU, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-17
Updated: 2015-03-02
Packaged: 2018-03-13 10:16:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3377774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/newboldtrue/pseuds/newboldtrue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sonoda Umi was a woman that finishes the jobs she was given.</p><p>This girl with the red hair, on the other hand, was a problem.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. red and blue

**Author's Note:**

> My list of "things that ruined my life" now includes Love Live. 
> 
> A bit of Assassin AU never hurt anyone, right?

Umi took a long, slow breath. _A target’s a target._ Blowing out the air, she traced the crosshairs down the blonde woman’s lapel, finger hovering over the cool trigger of her sniper. It was almost a shame, really, she lamented. She wondered what the woman may have done—held hostages? Poor diplomacy? What could have incited this situation where Umi was offered a significant sum of money for the head of this attracti—

“What the hell?”

Her hands stilled. This was not part of the plan.

“You shouldn’t be here,” added the unexpected, unfamiliar voice. A feminine voice. Perhaps fifteen feet behind her, and young. Inexperienced? She had time to reach for her handgun—

The woman behind Umi let out a small laugh, cutting across her thought process. “I didn’t expect the infamous ‘Ocean’s Hand’ on my job.” There was a smile in the stranger’s voice. This gave her pause. Umi turned very slowly, confident the woman would not shoot her yet, less confident in how her unexpected company’s definition of “yet” may vary.

_Red and lavender_. “Ah, the ‘Scarlet Princess.’” A truly befitting name. The woman was no older than her, clad in dark blacks, like herself. She radiated a sense of superiority and elegance that she allowed to extend down the length of her arm to the handgun pointed in Umi’s direction. Umi couldn’t help but smile in return—and it was almost sincere. “What a pleasant surprise.”

And it really was. She had heard she had “up-and-coming competition” for her renowned position, but this was supposed to be a “get in, take out the target, get out” mission. A black blazer was still in the sights of the weapon behind her, and the pretty politician was going to be dead in approximately nine hundred and twenty six seconds.

The redhead quirked a brow, smirk taunting dangerously at the corner of her lips. “Surprise, indeed, Ocean.” She tilted the gun away from Umi casually, shrugging, toying with a contrastingly bright lock of hair in the other hand. “So what do we do?”

Umi rested a gloved hand on her hip. She shook her head, smiling. “I don’t know, Princess.” The clock was ticking, but they were equals vying for the same spot. There was no time to be toying around, which was exactly why they both taunted the other. Great minds think alike, it seemed.

The girl laughed, throwing her hair over her shoulder. She took striding steps towards Umi—and Umi fought the reflex to step back. Umi kept her eyes vigilant as the stranger played with a lock of her long hair, very much in her personal space. What game was this girl trying to play?

“I don’t have time for this,” the redhead whispered, amusement audible as her breath brushed past Umi’s hair.

Umi played along, fingers gliding almost imperceptibly over the woman’s hips. “Neither do I.”

“Wonderful.”

 

* * *

 

Her skirt nearly caught in the closing doors of the train as she leapt on. Umi sighed; back to the same old daily life, she supposed. _Those_ jobs only came every once in a while during this season. She bit her lip as she slowly headed down the aisle, wondering if she could find an empty seat or if she—

And then a flash of red hair caught her eye.

Umi blinked.

_Impossible._

She stared. Red hair, white blazer, and that characteristic air of grace. Of all the people to run into… Against her own better judgment, she strode toward the seated girl, falling gently into the seat on her right.

The girl slowly pulled out her earphone, turning her head. Then she paused, lavender eyes wide, phone’s screen going dark from inactivity.

“Hey there, Ocean,” she murmured, a hint of incredulity lacing her tone.

Umi stared, a smile pulling at her lips. “Hello, Princess.”

“Not like I care or anything,” the redhead began, “but I’m going to have to admit I never expected to see you here.” She punctuated her sentence with a short, chopped laugh.

Umi shrugged, downplaying her surprise. “Maybe it’s fate. After all, I can’t believe you let Ayase get away.”

A pause.

“Your fault, really.”


	2. cold coffee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What a mundane world for two women with such vested interests. At least they can bond over coffee.

Maki scowled at her wristwatch as she turned the corner of Main Street.

 _Meet me at the café on Main at four,_ the woman had said, voice as calm and smooth as ever.

 _Okay_ , Maki had replied, with minimal hesitation and instant regret. What was she thinking? This could be such an easy setup. The woman was likely going to have her taken down in a public display. The humiliation would know no bounds. She was better than this.

She exhaled with heavy exasperation. She could not, however, call up her coworkers and ask for a scout. There would be no end to the humiliation of agreeing to this whatever it was—meeting?—this meeting with her competition. It was stupid. It was a complete mistake, probably, and yet her feet carried her forward regardless. Maki shifted the bag on her shoulder, casually scoping the area for—

“Ah, and here I was, thinking you had stood me up,” came that voice that had been engraved into her memory. It briefly crossed Maki’s mind that she can’t believe she recognized the voice so quickly. “I expected punctuality from you, in all honesty.”

Maki paused, body tense and mind on high alert as she turned to the voice. Maki was not one that enjoyed not being fully in charge of a situation. The woman was at a table that was easily missed by passerby. Dangerous as ever, and yet a slim hand was extended in her direction. A passing thought wondered how different that hand was without the glove.

“I figured we could have a formal introduction. It’s the least I can offer, although we seem to know quite a bit about each other already,” the woman continued, smiling wryly.

_And what an introduction that had been._

Her blue hair was picked up by the gentle breeze. “Sonoda Umi. I work at the corporation just down the street. Business and marketing, you see.”

Maki’s eyebrows rose slowly. “How… mundane.” She had expected more from the top assassin in the region. It would have been hard to believe she and the Ocean’s Hand were one and the same, perhaps, if the demeanors were not exactly the same.

Umi shrugged with a nonchalance that could match Maki’s usual disposition. She scooted her chair back in and sat, sipping at a half-empty cup of coffee. She crossed her legs, sitting casually in that frustratingly monotonous attire and yet still managing to exude an air of sophistication. “And you?”

Maki frowned. How trustworthy was this ‘ _Sonoda Umi?’_ “Nishikino Maki. Hospital a few blocks down.” She joined the woman in sitting, folding her hands gently on top of the table.

It was the woman’s— _Sonoda Umi. A name to the face—_ turn to reflect a visage of surprise. “ _The_ Doctor Nishikino herself?” she prompted, leaning forward as she languidly rested her elbows on the table. Maki watched distractedly as blue hair slipped over the woman’s shoulder.

She tried not to scoff, really. “I suppose.” The redhead shifted in her seat. _Games_. It was always a game when it came down to this woman. She should have learned from their first meeting. “You seem to have quite a vested interest.”

Another traitorous thought occurred to her: what was this Sonoda Umi like outside of these games they played? A hand without a glove, a face without a mask.

What was she doing? Maki must have lost her entire concept of common sense in the past few hours, because the down-to-earth Maki would never be caught dead sitting so amiably with someone who had cost her a job.

Lost in a second of distraction, it took Maki until the point of a third chair being screeched toward their table before she noticed another person joining their isolated corner—and, with a quick glance at Sonoda, it seemed she was not the only one.

“Hello, girls.”

Maki distantly heard Miss Sonoda choke on her coffee across the table. She noted the crumbling façade of the woman in the back of her mind, but the forefront was preoccupied with incredulity and nothing short of trepidation.

The figure spoke as if nothing was wrong. “Ayase Eli. Pleased to make your acquaintances.” And the blonde smiled pleasantly in her casual dress—the perfected image of a politician, all fangs and venom behind the curtains. This was a woman who knew how to play her cards.

This was a woman who knew far too much about the life of Nishikino Maki and her recent activities involving a certain assignment gone awry.

“Ocean, Princess—ah, of course, I should say Sonoda and Nishikino…” Ayase continued. Maki had still not moved an inch since the woman (the politican? The target? The stranger?) had seated herself without invitation, and so when the blonde extended her arms to both ends of the table to gently grasp the hands of both Maki and Umi, neither pulled away.

“We have so much to discuss.”

Maki forced a tone of public civility to mask her rapid-fire train of thought and mild panic. “Do we, now?”

Across, the table, Umi was shaken out of her reverie. “The surprises are just piling up lately.”

Ayase laced her fingers with Maki’s—and, she presumed, Umi’s—and the woman leaned forward. “Why don’t we find a more private place to talk?”

Maki was rapidly growing tired of games, but she was never one to back down. “If you say so,” she found herself saying, locking eyes with Umi across the table. “It would be our pleasure.”

A sharp gleam of satisfaction glinted in Ayase Eli’s blue eyes. “Let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was such a short snippet that was never meant to have a continuation like this, but who can help a bit of soldier game every once in a while? Two snippets it is.


End file.
